


Displaced

by cym70



Series: Displaced [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Past Abuse, Post-Catch and Release
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-01 09:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5201204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cym70/pseuds/cym70
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Peridot has to reevaluate everything she knows and Steven makes friends with the angry little slice of pie living in his bathroom.</p><p>Set immediately after Catch and Release, and canon divergent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1

Peridot does not like this so-called “bathroom” very much. It’s somewhat small, largely uncomfortable, and there is nothing to do. Worse, she can’t even entertain herself with her screen because her limb enhancers are long gone according to the Steven.

Really, the only good thing about it is the fact that it separates her from the gems outside that would probably love to see her cracked more than anything. She knows full well she’s only alive because she’s useful, and if she wants to get out of this she needs to stay useful—keep her mouth shut until she has a real chance of escaping.

Most of the time, she sits in the corner where the rectangular device that fills with water meets the wall, holding the only remaining piece of her enhancers she has left and straining her ears to try and hear what’s going on in the rest of the house.

From what she gathers, they spend a large part of the day discussing strategy in quiet voices, likely mindful of their unwanted guest and far enough away from the door that she can only catch some of the louder exclamations. At some point, the Steven leaves to…play? She hears the other gems send him off cheerfully, and a door closes. Upon his departure, the fusion suggests they reconvene discussion and the voices get too quiet to hear again.

Peridot stays perfectly still for the rest of the afternoon, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. No point drawing any more attention to herself, even if her frustration is making her want to scream.

When the Steven returns for “dinner”, there’s a burst of activity again and Peridot takes the opportunity to explore the bathroom a little more as she listens. Most of it is about the Steven's apparent need for sustenance, so she tunes it out, sifting curiously through the pile of cloth sitting in a box near the door. Each piece looks the same, and she vaguely recalls seeing the Steven wearing one during their previous encounters. Perhaps this is what he was referring to when he said “shirt” earlier. She picks one out from near the very bottom of the mass and holds it up, wrinkling her nose at the blue substance creating several large splotches on the front. Stevens seem so…messy. Is that why they need so many of the same thing?

Peridot examines it more closely, eyes widening. _Is it…?_ She tentatively touches a finger to the blue stain, then rubs it against her thumb. Yes, that’s definitely the fluid from her flask robonoids. Do they have some here? Had they taken them when she abandoned the warp pad on her first visit? Had they managed to activate them again?

…Can she make use of this knowledge in her escape plan?

There is a knock on the door and she flinches, snapping out a reflexive “ _What?_ ”

“It’s me, Steven! I was just wondering if you wanted some dinner!”

Why would she be interested in something intended to give Stevens energy? She didn’t require it.

“I know you don’t have to eat, but I thought you might like to try some Earth food? We have some really good stuff here!”

Peridot comes to her senses and quickly smudges the blue liquid off her fingers and onto the shirt, tossing it back into the box and burying it under a couple others. He might decide to come in later, and she doesn’t want anyone noticing her observations. “No,” she says bluntly.

“Are you sure?”

“Did you not hear me the first time?” _Yes, great job, Peridot. Antagonize the enemy while you’re stranded and helpless._

“Oh, okay then!” The Steven doesn’t appear to care that his offer has been rejected. “Let me know if you change your mind, and I can bring some snacks when I visit later.” With that unnecessarily cheery statement, he scurries back to the others and begins engaging in an excited conversation about his day with “Connie.” Peridot isn’t sure exactly what “Connie” is, but it appears to be some form of human judging by the way it’s spoken of.

Glancing back at the shirts one more time, then inspecting her fingers closely for any residue, Peridot wanders back to her corner. She has learned something at least, even if it isn’t knowledge that’s particularly useful right now. Perhaps she can analyze these shirts further and determine the activities of the traitors each day.

…Or she _could have_ done that, if she still had her limb enhancers. As she is, she’s constrained to visual and physical examination that is nowhere near as in-depth as her technology would have allowed, especially considering that she knows woefully little about Earth without her screen.

_Some mission preparation_ , she scoffs silently.

_Some mission._

Doubts creep into her mind and she hurriedly shoves them out. She doesn’t have time to question things. It isn’t her _place_ to question things. Get out, contact Yellow Diamond—again—and muster up her last remnants of hope that she’ll get rescued before everything shatters into a million pieces. Surely they’ll rescue her. Surely they still have a use for her.

Peridot shakes her head, scrunching her eyes shut and wedging herself into the corner. _Don’t think about it._

She’ll just wait.

* * *

 

The Steven comes in again at the end of his day—apparently he requires rest to function, which makes more sense than her previous theory that it was a strange habit of wasting time but is still baffling since he's a gem. Not that it matters, she’d used it to her advantage anyway, even if it hadn’t gotten her very far.

This time, when he strikes up conversation, she just listens. If he asks questions—

“How was your day?”

“Did you figure out the shower?”

“So what are houses like on Homeworld if no one needs a bathroom or a bedroom or a kitchen?”

—she doesn’t say anything. Information is information, even if it’s only trivial. Information is the only thing keeping her alive.

The Steven seems disappointed by her silence, but he shrugs it off with a “Sorry, I guess you’re probably still freaked out about all this. Talk to you in the morning?” He smiles. “Good night, Peridot!”

She turns off the lights when he leaves, locks the door, and keeps watch all night.


	2. Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the positive response to the first chapter! I'm hoping to update daily (or every other day, if that's not possible) since the majority of this fic is already written. Please enjoy this next installment!

Peridot becomes all too aware of her situation the more she considers it. Realistically, she is not going to escape unless the traitors are stupid enough to leave her alone—which they aren’t. There’s a reason they won the rebellion after all, even if there are so few of them left to show for it. Meanwhile, Peridot is weak. With her fresh-off-the-assembly-line limb enhancers, yes, maybe she would have a chance. Not much of one, and not in a true fight, but she’s proven plenty capable of evading them in the past.

But she doesn’t have those, and there’s nothing in this bathroom that can help her, even after searching every inch of it. She doesn’t have anything.

She isn’t a fighter, she isn’t strong, and her only real asset is her mind—but strategies that can’t be executed are useless. Alone, a single Peridot is not a threat. She wasn’t made to be.

She could try to sway the Steven to her side—not as improbable as she would have once thought—but then what? She’d have a half-powered gem with too much of an attachment to the others to ever act against them. It's unlikely she'd be able to manipulate things to be in her favor with the other three just outside.

Peridot gives up on strategies for the morning when the Steven knocks on the door and gets up to let him in, immediately retreating to the far end of the bathroom again once he’s inside.

“Good morning!”

She gives him a suspicious glare from the corner. “Why do you require the use of this room so often?”

“Well, it’s just a human thing,” he replies, laughing. “But, hey, you’re talking again! Are you feeling better?”

“In the face of impending doom? Yes, I feel just _fine_ ,” she replies sarcastically as she files away the “human thing” comment and starts to wonder why this Steven seems so different from most gems.

The Steven just keeps on looking pleased that she’s talking and bounces over to the “sink” to scrub out his mouth and splash water on his face.

Peridot watches him from a distance, still clutching her foot to her chest. So this is a daily routine. Perhaps she should have chosen a different room to take up residence in—not that she really had the choice.

“Oh, Peridot,” the Steven says suddenly once his face is dry, “I brought you something.”

She watches him walk closer with apprehension, tensing up so she can be ready to run if needed.

Oddly, he stops a couple feet away and reaches into a compartment in the not-shirt piece of clothing on his lower half. When he pulls his hand out, he tosses something in Peridot’s direction. "Catch!"

Peridot yelps and flings herself sideways to avoid the projectile, shielding her gem.

“Oh! No, no, I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to hurt you!” The Steven sounds genuinely upset. “Um, it’s…it’s called candy. It’s a kind of food that’s really sweet and yummy.”

She slowly gets up, eyes darting nervously towards the small square thing that had fallen next to her.

“Just, you know, in case you want to try some Earth stuff. I’ve got one too,” he adds, pulling a second piece out. “Don’t tell the Gems though; I’m not supposed to eat dessert before breakfast,” he says in a low voice, unwrapping the thin paper around the candy and then popping it into his mouth.

Seeing this, Peridot carefully picks up the one he’d tossed to her, examining it closely.

“Ith sthicky,” he says, chewing for a while. After he’s swallowed the candy, he glances back at Peridot. “It’s called caramel. I promise it’s good, so try it later, okay? I’ve gotta go now.” He says a quick goodbye and waves, leaving her alone again.

Lock the door. Lights off. Listen carefully.

* * *

Her plan goes about as well as it did the previous day, with the exception of the absolutely terrifying surprise of the fusion’s voice addressing her through the door.

“Peridot, we need to talk.”

“What am I going to talk to _you_ about?” she responds, bristling with fear.

“What’s the Cluster?”

“You think I’m going to give you that information for free?” she scoffs with false bravado.

“I don’t think you have much choice.”

Oh stars, they’re going to torture her. Of course they are. Of course. It doesn’t matter that the Steven seems to like talking to her, that he hasn’t really tried to harm her. Just because these gems turned their back on Homeworld doesn’t mean they’re any different than the ones she’s used to. They’ll get what they need and then shatter her. She’s just a Peridot after all. She isn’t worth anything now, not even as a hostage, not like this. It isn’t like Yellow Diamond will even miss her.

Tears sting her eyes and she forces them back, hands reflexively coming up to shield her gem.

“Peridot? Are you listening?” The fusion sounds impatient.

 _What’s the best course of action here?_ Peridot asks herself, panicky. What gives her the highest—if still tiny—chance of survival?

“What’s up, G?” the Amethyst’s voice asks, approaching from elsewhere in the house. “She talking?”

“Not yet.”

“I’m not sure it’s even worth trying at this rate,” the Pearl says, sounding irritated. “She’s just going to keep hiding there and escape at the first opening. Then we’ll stop her, and it’ll be a stalemate again. Really, she’s practically bubbled _herself._ ”

Peridot’s fingers curl into fists. She knows that much. If they’ve figured it out too, then they have no reason not to attack her.

“Hey, you,” the Amethyst calls, rapping on the door. “You’re going to have to start paying rent if you stay in there much longer!”

 _Pay what?_ She makes herself as small as possible.

“Wait a moment, Amethyst, I have an idea.” The Pearl clears her throat significantly. “Peridot, we’ll make a deal with you. You tell us about the Cluster, and we’ll give you something in return.”

A deal? She doesn’t want to make a deal, she wants to get out of here. Not to mention it’s clearly a bluff.

“Agreed,” the fusion says. “We can discuss terms if you come out of there.”

“Yeah, from what Steven said, it sounds like you’re just as screwed as we are if this thing happens,” the Amethyst says. "Are you sure you want to watch the end of the world from the _bathroom?_ Sounds pretty boring, if you ask me.”

“I’m waiting for someone to rescue me from this awful planet!” Peridot shoots back before she can stop herself. She hates how fragile her voice sounds in her own ears.

The Pearl laughs. “Rescue you? Wouldn’t they have done that already if they were planning on it?”

Peridot bites her lip hard, trembling.

“She knows that,” the fusion says simply. There’s a pause before she speaks again. “Peridot, you’re welcome to wait around for something that’s not going to happen, but you have a lot better chance of surviving if you cooperate.”

Their footsteps move away after that, and Peridot cries silently, afraid to move or make a sound.

She knows she’s being stupid, she knows she’s dying either way, and she knows she’s outlived her usefulness. She’s just postponing the inevitable.

She doesn’t let the Steven in that night.


	3. Day 3

Peridot watches light seep into the room again as the sun comes up and reluctantly flips the light switch on, well aware that the Steven will be coming by soon. Probably. It’s possible he took offense to her locking him out last night, but he seems too persistent to be bothered by something like that.

Then again, Peridot could stand to be more careful with the tenuous alliance they seem to be forming.

She glances down at the small square of “caramel” the Steven gave her yesterday and wonders if she should eat it, whether that would be considered a gesture of goodwill or if this is some kind of trick. She’d held onto it all night, tucking it into her palm and curling her fingers around it, and it certainly doesn’t seem dangerous.

She ponders it some more as the morning progresses, and she begins to have a sinking feeling as there is no greeting and no knock on the door and the Steven is chatting to the traitors about his plans to spend the day with someone he refers to as “Dad.” And then he leaves.

Peridot is irrationally upset by this. It’s not like the Steven _matters_ , but she’d expected him to continue his erratic, pointless behavioral patterns. Routines are meant to be followed.

Except, then again, he does matter. He’s probably the only thing keeping the bathroom door intact, keeping her out of the reach of the other gems waiting outside. The door is not really an obstacle for them, but the Steven’s strange interest in her is. And if that’s gone, so too is Peridot’s last shield.

The day passes in surprising peace though. The traitors spend some time talking under their breath about her again, then go about what seems to be their daily routine, one or two disappearing via warp pad on occasion and at least one remaining to keep watch. They don’t approach Peridot again.

She doesn’t see why _not._ It would probably be easiest for them to just get her out of the way now, since they know she isn’t going to be useful.

…But what if she is useful? What if she talks to them willingly? Are they still hanging onto that hope?

Is she?

Peridot hates herself for thinking, even for a moment, that she could betray Yellow Diamond by telling them about the Cluster.

But…

Yellow Diamond isn’t here. No one is here. It’s just Peridot, alone, and she needs to survive.

_Not an excuse._

_Not worth it._

If she has to die, she’d rather not get added to the list of traitors in the process. But after everything she’s done for Yellow Diamond, she’s just going to be left here…?

Familiar voices ring in her ears—

_“You think you’re special? I could crush you right now and another Peridot would be happy to have your job.”_

_“Don’t you remember what happens to gems that can’t keep their mouths shut?”_

_“You’re lucky Yellow Diamond finds your disobedience amusing. Anyone else would have gotten rid of you ages ago.”_

_“Get up, Peridot. You know, I could do so much worse to you. But I’m not going to, because I know you’re going to do better next time.”_

_“You do know, don’t you, what happens to failures? Do you need me to remind you?”_

—and she shudders, forcing them away and steeling herself.

She is not a traitor.

She will not tell them.

She will not break under torture either.

She is not that weak.

Peridot rips open the candy and jams it into her mouth. It doesn’t matter what is in it if she’s already doomed. She might as well eat it.

It’s sticky, like the Steven said, annoyingly so, but there’s something good there too once she gets over the odd sensation of her teeth wanting to glue themselves together. It’s not bad. Shapeshifting a digestive system is uncomfortable, and she doesn’t quite understand the point, but it’s harmless enough.

Perhaps the Steven is actually as genuine as he seems.

* * *

The Steven returns late in the day and appears to skip his evening sustenance in favor of something called “ice cream,” from what Peridot gathers. She settles into her corner again, expecting the day to continue as it has been, but a knock on the bathroom door surprises her a minute later.

“Peridot?” the Steven calls hesitantly. “I have something for you.”

For her? She considers it for a moment, then goes over and cracks the door open. “What?”

“Oh, hi!” He grins. “Here, it’s called ice cream. I thought we could share!”

Peridot glances down at the bowl in his hands, which is filled with some kind of brown, pink, and white conglomeration. “Is this another human food?”

“Yep,” he answers excitedly. “Can I come in?”

“Why not.” She backs away from the door, watching him closely as he enters and shuts it behind him.

“Here,” the Steven says, sitting a little ways away from her usual spot and setting the bowl down on the floor between them. “You eat it with these,” he adds, holding up two plastic stick-like things with a circle at the end. “They’re called spoons.” The Steven holds one out to her. “It’s not a weapon.”

Peridot cautiously lifts it from his fingers, eyes darting curiously between it and the bowl and the Steven.

He smiles brightly and sticks the round end of his own spoon into the ice cream, getting a glob of all the colors and then transferring it to his mouth somewhat messily.

“Is this like the…caramel?” she asks slowly.

“Oh, you tried it?” he asks eagerly, nodding. “Yeah, it’s all yummy and sweet like caramel, but it’s different! And cold!”

“Cold? Why?”

“Just eat it!” He nudges the bowl towards her.

Peridot stares at it for a moment, watching it begin to melt and form a liquefied version at the bottom of the bowl. Slowly, she sticks the spoon in and gathers a small portion of the ice cream onto it.

The Steven watches with starry eyes as she carefully places it in her mouth, pulling the spoon out as she’d watched him do. “Do you like it?”

It is cold, like he said. It is also several flavors all smashed together. She doesn’t really know what ice cream is meant to taste like, if this is actually good or if it’s something subpar that he’s allowed to share with her, but… “Yes,” she replies finally.

His face lights up and he pushes the bowl towards her again. “Have some more then!”

She does, and they spend the next few minutes clearing the bowl of the remaining ice cream with steadily increasing speed. The Steven offers to let her have the last spoonful and, after some hesitation, she agrees.

He looks unreasonably pleased by the whole ritual, which Peridot counts a success.

The ice cream was good too though, she supposes.

“Hey, Peridot?” the Steven asks, setting his spoon in the bowl.

“Yes?”

“Um, thanks for letting me in today. I know everything must still seem pretty scary to you.”

She copies his movement, placing the spoon down and then curling her arm back around her foot protectively, keeping her eyes focused somewhere around her knees. “It merely seemed the best course of action,” she mutters.

“But it was a _yummy_ course of action too, right?” the Steven asks with a cheery wink.

Peridot glances at him briefly. “I…admit I was surprised that your unnecessary biological functions could be anything more than annoying.”

He grins. “Does that mean you want to try more kinds of food?”

She side-eyes him warily. “How many kinds _are_ there?”

“Lots!” he says enthusiastically. “I know, I’ll bring you a donut tomorrow! What kind should it be?”

“What kind of what?” Peridot asks, confused. “There are subcategories of this subcategory of food?”

“Yep, super awesome subcategories!” The Steven hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll just bring you a bunch of good ones to try, okay?”

“Alright,” she agrees, still not really sure what he’s talking about.

“Cool,” he says with another warm smile. “I should probably get ready for bed now though.”

Peridot nods uncertainly. “Should I, er, turn around again?”

“Yes, please!”

_The Steven is strange_ , she thinks, turning to face the wall. _But_ , she supposes with a tiny, nearly imperceptible smile, _he’s alright_. He’s a good ally.


	4. Day 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, I'm happy to see people enjoying this fic! I just wanted to note that the next chapter will probably go up on Tuesday, since Mondays are busy for me and I don't want to rush the writing/editing. In the meantime, I hope you like this new chapter!

 “Knock knock.”

“Why are you simulating knocking with your voice?”

“Beeeecause I’m holding a lot of stuff and I kind of need you to open the door for me?” the Steven replies.

Peridot sighs and gets up, cracking open the door and squinting at all the objects piled in his arms. “What is that?”

“Donuts, books, games, slumber companions, and candy!”

“Are any of those weapons?” she asks suspiciously.

“Nope, just fun!”

“Alright.” She steps back to let him enter, opening the door a little to assist him.

“So I told my friend Connie about you and she said she didn’t want you to get too bored in here so she’ll let you borrow some of her books! You have to be careful with them though,” he cautions. “It’s her favorite series.” The Steven drops the pile of things he’s holding onto the floor in an untidy heap, then digs through it for some rectangular documents bound together neatly. “So, this is the first one! Make sure you start there because it’s really confusing if you don’t. And then it’s this one and this one and _this one with the cool cover_ …”

Peridot stares at him, watching him babble about the various objects. She nearly forgets she was meant to be listening when he drops a paper bag in front of her.

“…and these are the donuts!”

“Right,” she says slowly. She opens up the bag and looks inside, finding about half a dozen different things there. She doesn’t really want to have to go through the process of eating this much; the ice cream was uncomfortable enough and even if she was fascinated by the flavors, this is a lot. “These are all called ‘donuts’?” she asks, reluctant.

“Yep!” The Steven watches her expectantly.

Peridot pulls out one of the strange round concoctions he’s brought her. They have holes in the middle; are they defective? Maybe that’s why it's okay for him to offer her these foods, if they are otherwise unwanted? Though he had eaten the ice cream, and the caramel. But it makes no _sense_ to give these to her.

“Peridot?” he asks, sounding a little worried when she just keeps looking at the donut in her hand.

This doesn’t make any sense at all. They’re supposed to be enemies, alliance or not, and there has to be some ulterior motive here that she isn’t seeing. The other gems have to have realized he’s doing this, maybe they even played a part in acquiring these things. Peridot drops the donut back into the bag.

“Um, is everything okay?”

If she refuses to go along with his ideas, will she be punished? She hasn’t tested this theory yet, though it’s been stewing in the back of her mind.

“Peri?”

_Might as well find out now, before I start thinking he actually…cares._ Peridot slowly, pointedly, pushes the bag of donuts away. “I don’t want it.”

“You don’t?” The Steven moves closer and she flinches, unsure what to expect. “Do you feel sick or something?”

Peridot stares at him. “…No.”

“Oh, good,” he says, looking relieved. “We can just save them for later then.”

“I don’t want to eat them later,” she tries, eyes boring holes into him like if she looks at him long enough he’ll start to make sense. “It’s annoying.”

“Oh…I guess I’ll just share them with Amethyst then,” he says, seeming slightly put out. “But it’s okay if you don’t like eating; Pearl doesn't either!” he adds, no hint of anger in his voice.

“That’s…it?” Peridot asks hesitantly.

“Huh?”

“You’re not mad?”

The Steven wrinkles his nose, bewildered. “Why would I be mad about you not liking donuts?”

“…Never mind.” She feels strange, and she’s not sure what to do now.

“Okay,” he says slowly. “Want to play a game then?”

“Why?” she mutters.

“Just because?”

Peridot groans. “If you’re trying to get me to tell you about the Cluster, there are better strategies than… _this_.” She gestures to the mess as a whole. “I’m your prisoner, just interrogate me already! You don’t have to be nice to me!”

“But…I want to be nice to you,” the Steven says uncertainly, sounding upset. “I know we haven’t been on the same side, but we’re not just going to be mean for no reason!”

“You don’t _need_ a reason, I’m your prisoner!” she contends, and it occurs to her that this is the strangest argument she’s ever gotten into. She doesn’t even know why she’s arguing against her own interests. She wishes she’d thought this through better, but she’s never been good at handling stress.

“You’re not—I mean, okay, I guess you _kind of_ are, but we’re still not going to hurt you!”

“I don’t understand,” she mutters, hands starting to tremble as she grips the useless piece of her enhancer. “I don’t understand any of this.”

“I know.” The Steven hesitates and then moves to sit right next to her, wincing when she shrinks back. “I…sometimes don’t understand things either, and it’s scary. And I bet it’s even scarier for you because you’re on a whole new _planet._ ” The Steven pauses, feet scuffing the tile floor lightly. “I don’t really know what Homeworld is like. Garnet and Pearl do, but there’s a lot of stuff they don’t like to talk about because it makes them sad. So…I know it’s not always a nice place. But Earth is different.” He smiles at her. “We won’t hurt you, Peridot.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?” she says shakily.

“Well…you wouldn’t keep letting me in if you didn’t believe me a little bit, right?” he asks.

He has a point, doesn’t he? Peridot glances sideways at him. He’s smarter than she gave him credit for. “You said,” she begins, voice raspy. She shakes her head, clearing her throat. “You said, the first day, you want to help me.”

He nods.

“You want to help me even if I don’t tell you about the Cluster?”

Another nod.

Peridot touches her gem lightly, trying to think. She can’t quite process his reasoning, and it’s frustrating.

“Peri?” he asks after she’s quiet for a while.

“Why are you calling me that?” she replies, because falling back on a simpler line of questioning is easier than trying to figure out what’s actually happening.

“It’s a nickname!” the Steven answers brightly.

“My name is Peri _dot._ ”

“I know. Want me to call you Dot instead?”

Peridot sighs. “If you must.”

“Okay, Dot.” He grins. “Want to play Citchen Calamity?” He points at one of the boxes he brought in.

“…Sure.”

As he pulls out a board and a bunch of small papers, she watches intently. He hands her the instructions to read and she slowly uncurls from her corner as she opens them up and starts to memorize the nonsensical and foreign terminology.

The Steven is unreasonably excited about playing this game, but Peridot finds she doesn’t mind it. For the first time since getting to Earth, she is playing by a specific set of rules, however ridiculous, and it’s satisfying. The Steven wins, mostly because she can’t figure out what everything is called fast enough to catch up, but it's not by much and the competition between them is…fun. For once, there is nothing riding on her performance, and a loss appears to be meaningless, because all he does is declare victory and then shake her hand seriously, saying “Good game!”

Peridot lets him, watching their hands move up and down. “Is it acceptable to request a rematch?”

“You want to play again?” he asks eagerly.

She nods.

“Awesome! Nobody ever plays twice in a row!”

He hurries about setting up the board again, and Peridot finds herself smiling as she watches. He’s nonsensical and nothing here follows any kind of reasonable logic, but maybe…maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s okay to stop thinking and analyzing and worrying for a little while.

For now, she can just play games with the Steven and pretend she’s safe.


	5. Day 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! Thank you so much for the kudos; they're really encouraging. Here's the latest chapter!

Peridot spends the whole night reading the books the Steven brought her. They are decidedly bizarre, but they’re better than staring at the wall all night and thinking too much. She gets through three of them by morning and it’s only once she's well into the fourth that she realizes she’s left the lights on all night.

When the Steven comes in to start his routine, she makes sure to greet him properly, with a “good morning” like he always gives her. He looks so happy about this small development that she wants to curl up in embarrassment.

“Good morning, Dot!” he says with those ridiculous sparkling eyes and a wide smile. How can he afford to be so open all the time?

Peridot frowns, standing there nervously and trying her best not to go back to the corner like she usually does. “I, er, began the task you set me,” she manages awkwardly.

“The what?”

She gestures to the neat stack of books. “I have been reading them, as you instructed.”

To her surprise, the Steven does not look very happy about this. “Oh.”

Peridot’s head spins, trying to reevaluate the situation and figure out why her response hasn’t resulted in a positive reaction.

“Peridot?” he asks. “Did you just read them because I said you should?”

Is there a right and wrong answer? Peridot considers it. From their previous encounters, the Steven seems to prefer it when she speaks her mind. She hesitates. “Initially, yes. However, I admit they are…interesting studies of human culture.”

The Steven laughs, and Peridot feels relieved. “You know they’re just made-up stories, right?”

“Obviously,” she replies. “Even humans aren’t _that_ strange.”

He grins. “Hey, we’re not so bad, y'know.”

Peridot narrows her eyes. “‘We’? You’re a gem.”

“I’m half-human though!”

Well, that’s…not that much of a surprise. She probably should have at least begun to figure that out already; she really _isn’t_ functioning well here. Still, she’s not really sure how it’s possible for him to be gem and human at the same time. “So you’re a…hybrid?”

“I guess so? My mom was a gem, and my dad's a human, so I’m both.” The Steven shrugs and sits down, picking up the book she had been reading and flipping through it. “Where’d you stop?”

“Page 164.”

He finds it and reads the first few sentences. “Oh! You’re about to get to the part where—oh, oops, no spoilers! But you should definitely keep reading!” The Steven pauses. “I mean, if you want to. It’s okay if you don’t.”

Peridot scowls and snatches the book back, sitting down. “I don’t see how your chain of command even functions when you’re so lax about everything.”

“Chain of… Peridot, we don’t have that kind of thing here,” the Steven says. “I mean, Garnet’s sort of in charge, but that’s different. We’re all equal.”

She stares at him, uncomprehending. “The fusion acts as your leader?” She had expected the Steven or the Amethyst would be in charge, since they’re Quartzes. Or…one half Quartz and one defective Quartz, she supposes. Still, why would they let a _fusion_ be in charge?

He nods.

“But you aren’t required to follow her orders?”

“Well, I guess not.”

“Then how does that work?”

The Steven tilts his head. “We still listen to her.”

“Why?” There’s no point in listening to a leader with no authority, is there?

“Because we want to take care of each other. And protect Earth together.”

_Oh._ Peridot stares down at her hands, which still feel vaguely foreign to her after spending so much time in limb enhancers, and thinks about how she’s always just been told to do her job, play her part for Homeworld. “You…all have the same function?”

“Huh?”

“You all protect the Earth, just because you want to?”

“Yep!”

Something painful sparks inside her chest. Choosing to be something is a luxury that Homeworld has no place for.

“We’re a family,” the Steven adds after a moment. “That’s why we work together.”

“Family,” she echoes. “That’s different from an alliance?”

“Yeah. Family is…family is the people who are there for you, no matter what.”

“I don’t understand.”

The Steven looks upset by her admission. “You don’t have family on Homeworld?”

“…No?” Peridot answers slowly. An incorrect response, apparently, because now he seems like he’s about to cry.

“Oh…” He moves closer, looking determined. “Y-You can be part of mine then, okay?”

She blinks at him. “Why? Do you require my skills for something?”

The Steven shakes his head. “I just don’t want you to be lonely.”

_What? Why would it matter if I was lonely? I’m just a Peridot._

“Dot?”

“I’m made to work alone,” she mutters. “I’m a technician.”

The Steven scoots a little closer to her. “Well,” he says carefully, “I could show you how it works, if you want to stay.”

Peridot bites her lip. If she wants to stay? She _has_ to stay, doesn’t she? Even if she had a choice, it would be suicide to go against Yellow Diamond, who certainly has no place for this kind of sentimentality the Steven finds so important. “I have my orders,” she replies, “even if I’m stranded.”

“From Yellow Diamond?”

She nods.

“Is she coming?”

Peridot lets out a sharp laugh. “Not likely.”

“Then…why does it matter what she thinks?”

“Because they’re my orders,” she repeats, staring at him.

“But what do _you_ want to do, Peridot?”

Her fingers curl in tightly. _Why are you asking me that like it makes a difference? Why can’t you just treat me like a normal prisoner?_ She doesn’t know the answer, right or wrong, and the way he speaks to her is unnerving, makes it feel like she matters in some way, even if she’s useless to him. But…it is nice, someone treating her like a real gem instead of just a convenient tool. Maybe, if she truly had the time, she could have started to understand this place. Maybe she would have actually liked it here. As it is, she doesn’t have time. _What do you want to do?_ Peridot hugs her legs to her chest. “I don’t know,” she whispers.

The Steven seems to understand she needs the conversation to be over, so he talks for a little while about his favorite parts of the books she’s already read, not seeming at all offended by her lack of response.

Perhaps that, along with the fact that he gives up his whole morning for something so trivial, is what allows her to come to a decision.

She’ll help the Steven, she thinks, watching him leave for “lunch”. She’ll at least try.

She wants to believe that gems like this can exist. She wants to believe that she’s important too. She wants to believe she can still be something, besides useless, besides a traitor, because that’s what she’ll be after this. That’s what she is now.

Yellow Diamond isn’t going to help her, so she’ll help herself.

She’ll help the first gem who’s treated her as an equal. The gem who for some reason has no interest in telling her what to do. The gem who genuinely wants her to speak her mind, and doesn’t treat it like a misstep when she doesn’t say what he expects.

She has nothing to lose and she wants help him. She wants to know how this all works.

She wants, for the first time, to not be alone.

* * *

When the Steven comes back to visit in the evening, Peridot tries to tell him what she’s decided, but the words stick in her throat.

“I’m going to say something,” she tries eventually.

The Steven looks at her in the mirror, soapy bubbles on his face. “Okay.”

_I’m going to tell you about the Cluster_ , she thinks, but the words still don’t come out, some tiny shred of loyalty holding her back. “Thank you for…bringing me things,” she says instead. “I appreciate it.”

“No prob, Bo—whoops. No prob, Dot!”

“Yes. Right.” Peridot stares decidedly at the floor and makes herself try again. “Stevens have proven to be…quite different from what I expected.”

“Uh, Peridot?” he interrupts before she can continue.

“Yes?” she replies.

“It’s just ‘Steven’. There’s only one of me! And we’re friends now, right?”

_Well, that does make sense, if he’s some kind of hybrid_. “What exactly does ‘friends’ involve?”

“Doing fun things together, like Citchen Calamity and talking about books!” he responds enthusiastically.

“Hm. I’d like to negotiate the requirements before I agree to anything.”

He laughs. “Friendships don’t have requirements!”

How…predictably illogical. It can’t hurt though, can it, if it’s just what they’ve already been doing? “Okay…Steven,” she says hesitantly.

Steven smiles. “Okay!” He wipes his face off and then puts his hand out again like he did after their games. “Friends?”

Peridot hesitates, then slowly places one of her hands in his, staring as he shakes it up and down. “Friends,” she echoes quietly.

Yes. She’ll tell him in the morning.


	6. Day 6

The next morning, after a long night of thinking and being too distracted to read, Peridot steels herself for the conversation she needs to have with Steven.

It isn’t Steven who knocks on the door though, and when she opens it she just sees the fusion, who looks down at her with lips parted slightly in surprise.

She clears her throat. “Well, that was easier than I expected.”

Peridot yelps and tries to slam the door shut, but the fusion’s foot catches it and she wedges herself in, shutting the door firmly behind her. Peridot scrambles backwards as far as possible, terrified of what the fusion might do to her.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she says calmly.

“Says the gem that crushed me!” Peridot retorts, arms up to shield her forehead.

“You were trying to hurt the people I love,” she replies. “I don’t foresee that being a problem again.”

She flinches.

The fusion lifts both hands in a show of peace. It’s true, her gauntlets aren’t there, just her two gems on her palms, bare. Peridot is well aware she’s not a threat to a powerful fusion, but it is still a voluntary show of vulnerability. “I won’t hurt you,” she says again.

Peridot slowly lowers her arms. “Why are you here then?”

“To negotiate.” She crosses her arms and leans against the sink, across from where Peridot is crouched. “Steven says you’ve been talking to him.”

“Steven has been…trying to form some kind of Earth alliance with me,” she says carefully. “I have agreed.”

“Good.”

“In fact, I was going to speak to him today about the Cluster. So there’s really no need to threaten me.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re _fused._ ”

Her lips tighten into a hard line. “Peridot, I am not a ‘war machine’. I'm not fused to fight.”

“Then why?” Peridot asks, baffled.

The fusion shakes her head. “I don’t think you’re going to understand that yet. For the time being, just know that no one is going to hurt you without cause. I’m only here to talk.”

Peridot nods hesitantly.

“Now, what was that you were saying about the Cluster?”

She huffs, curling back up in her corner. “I’ll tell Steven.”

“You’ll tell all of us.”

“I never agreed to—”

The door opens again, and Steven comes in. “Hi, Peridot! Hi, Garnet!”

“Hello, Steven,” the fusion says fondly, one hand ruffling his hair.

“You two are getting along, right?” he asks, looking up at her nervously.

“Mostly.” She turns to Peridot, who's scowling. “She’s going to tell us about the Cluster.”

“Whoa, really?” Steven runs over to Peridot excitedly. “You’re going to tell us?”

“As I was telling the fusion,” she mutters irritably, “I will tell _you_ , not the rest of your little group.”

“But we’re a team, so I’ll tell them anyway,” he counters, confused. “Wouldn’t it be easier to have everyone here? I can go get Amethyst and Pearl!”

“No!” Peridot says quickly, flattening her back to the wall. She doesn’t want to be stuck in a room with all four of them; that’s just asking to be shattered.

“Peridot,” the fusion says sharply. “If you want our help, you’re going to have to cooperate.”

“I don’t _want_ your help! I’m offering _my_ help to Steven, and only to him!” She looks to Steven anxiously. “You said you wanted me to believe you, so prove it!”

Steven hesitates, looking to the fusion. “Um…”

_Oh, right, their backwards leadership._ Peridot tries to look confident as she faces them.

“I’ll make you a deal,” she says finally, touching her visor. “Pearl, Amethyst, and I leave you alone for today, and you tell Steven about the Cluster.”

“Good!”

“I wasn’t finished,” she continues. “Tomorrow, if this is as serious as you make it out to be, the _five_ of us will be figuring out a way to take care of this.”

Peridot scowls, considering.

“Please?” Steven adds, eyes wide. “They’ll be nice, I promise.”

He…has been good about sticking to his word so far, despite the small amount of data she has to draw conclusions from. She supposes, all things considered, it won’t do any harm. She’s living on borrowed time with the Cluster anyway. “Fine,” she says. “I will agree to this… _deal._ ”

“Great.” The fusion puts a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “Listen carefully, alright?”

“Will do!” he says cheerfully, saluting her.

Peridot watches warily as the fusion leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a firm click. She rushes over as soon as she can and locks it. “Alright,” she says decisively. “The Cluster.”

“Wait,” Steven says, waving his hands to stop her. “Before I forget, I have something to give you!”

“…What?” she asks curiously.

He grins and digs into his pocket, pulling out a small, crinkled piece of paper. He peels something off of it and holds it out. “Can I see your hand?”

“What for?” Suspicion creeps into her voice.

“I’m gonna put a sticker on it!”

“What’s a sticker?”

“Something fun. It doesn’t hurt,” he adds encouragingly.

Peridot slowly extends her right arm, cringing a little when he presses something circular and sticky to the back of her hand. When he lets go, she inspects it closely. “This is your symbol,” she says faintly.

“Huh?”

“It’s the icon from the warp pad.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s from _Crying Breakfast Friends_. Take good care of it, okay? They’re limited edition!”

_I don’t think I should wear this_ is what she wants to say, but what comes out is “I will.”

He beams. “Awesome! Now,” he says, clapping his hands and putting a serious face on, “the Cluster.”

Peridot nods, sitting down across from Steven and straightening her shoulders. Then, eyes still locked on the sticker affixed to her hand, she begins to speak. “Ideally, I would show you the data in the prime Kindergarten, but I doubt the Crystal Cl—Gems will allow us to leave your so-called bathroom…”

* * *

When she finishes, and Steven has asked all the questions he can think of, they sit in silence.

“I'm glad you told me,” Steven tries finally, still sounding rather intimidated by the whole situation.

Peridot feels empty but…bigger, in a way. She’s made her choice, and she’s kept her word. She’s officially a traitor to Homeworld and, while that terrifies her, she can’t find any regret within herself. Homeworld has already given up on her anyway.

“Um, I should probably go talk to the Gems about stuff. Although I’m pretty sure they’ve been listening at the door the whole time.”

“I’m aware,” Peridot says dryly. They weren’t the most subtle group.

“Guys?” Steven calls. “Is there anything else you want to know about?”

There’s a flurry of movement and shuffling around before the Pearl clears her throat. “No thank you, Steven, that’s plenty for now.”

“Yeah, thanks, nerd!” the Amethyst adds. “Really appreciate you telling us about the _massive fusion monster you put in the middle of our planet!_ ”

“I didn’t put it there!” Peridot shouts back.

“She’s right, she’s clearly much too young to have played a part in starting the experiments,” the Pearl says calmly. “She barely knew how to control that old ship that she tried to trap us in.”

“Hey! I am four hundred years old and I don’t have to put up with defective antiques like you insulting my work!”

“Watch it,” the fusion snaps.

“It’s fine, Garnet,” the Pearl says, sounding amused.

“Aw, she’s just a kid,” the Amethyst snickers.

“I am not, you—you clods!”

“Need some help with your comebacks, mini-nerd?”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Steven interrupts. “Don’t pick fights with each other!”

“Steven’s right,” the fusion agrees. “We need to stay focused. Peridot may be annoying, but she’s not the problem right now.”

Peridot crosses her arms and fumes silently, glaring at the door.

“Fiiine, it’s just fun to rile her up,” the Amethyst sighs. “Hey, Steven, want to go get snacks for our team meeting?”

“Is it a _secret_ team meeting?” he asks excitedly.

“Yeah, sure, Crystal Gems only. You coming?”

“You bet!” Steven hurries to open the door, and Peridot takes a couple steps back just to be safe. The other gems make no move to come in though. “Bye, Peridot!” he calls over his shoulder.

He and the Amethyst immediately start talking about something called “fry bits” and the other two seem to be walking away as well, even as the door closes and Peridot mutters a quiet farewell to Steven.

She stands there uncertainly for a moment. She doesn’t know what she expected to happen after telling them, but it definitely wasn’t just to be left in peace.

Peridot shakes her head and is about to go lock the door when suddenly it flings open again, making her jump.

“I forgot something!” Steven says breathlessly.

“What?” she asks suspiciously.

He runs over and throws his arms around her, holding on. “Thank you!”

“I—er—what are you—” she stammers uncertainly as he squeezes her, surprisingly gentle despite his enthusiasm. “You’re…welcome?”

Steven beams as he lets go. “Okay! I have to go now so I’ll see you later, Dot!”

“See you later?” Peridot repeats, watching the door close again. He just came back for that? She adds it to the list of unusual but harmless things Steven does, and then slowly picks up the book she’s in the middle of. She settles in once more, eyes resting on the pages but not absorbing the information.

_Thank you._

She’s never been thanked for her work like that. And she's their prisoner regardless of Steven’s peaceable nature; it isn’t like he needs to thank her for giving up information. But he did.

Peridot slips her visor off and touches her gem lightly. Smooth, intact, unharmed, even though they don’t really need her anymore now that they know.

Maybe Earth really is kinder than she thought. Maybe they all are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go now! I do have ideas for future stories in this universe though, so that won't be the end of things. Thank you again for reading!
> 
> Also, a quick note: Peridot's age is really just a random guess here, since she seems pretty unfamiliar with old gem tech and doesn't know about the Crystal Gems when she first meets them. If it's ever stated more definitely in canon, I'll change it, but for now I'm just going to assume she hasn't been around very long in comparison to the others.


	7. Day 7

To Peridot’s surprise, all of the gems—save Steven—leave the next morning, saying they’re going to go investigate the Kindergarten. Then Steven knocks lightly on the door and asks if she wants to come out.

“What?”

“Well, it’s just us, so I thought maybe you’d want to?” he asks. “The bathroom's gotta be pretty boring.”

“No,” Peridot says decisively. “And I’m still reading the books your ‘Connie’ is loaning me.”

“You could read them out here!” he offers. “The couch is pretty comfy!”

“I’m sure it is,” she says flatly, “but I would prefer to stay right here.”

“Okay,” Steven relents. “Well, can I come in and get ready for the day then?”

“It’s open,” Peridot replies. She watches Steven come in and returns the obligatory “good morning” even though they have already been speaking. He finishes quickly this time, saying that he’s “hungry” and soon Peridot is left alone with the books again.

She spends a while reading and listening to Steven move around the kitchen. The other gems haven’t returned. _Maybe…_

Peridot walks quietly to the door and twists the knob very, very slowly, pushing it open an inch before she hurriedly closes it again. It’s a bad idea. She sits back down with the book.

Steven finishes his breakfast and seems to have turned on his “TV”, some strange human drama playing out just loud enough for her to catch bits of the dialogue.

Peridot finds herself at the door again and gulps. It’s…just Steven, right? And she can run back to the bathroom if the other gems show up. She’s done it before. And they haven’t acted hostile as of late. She might as well try this; she’ll have to leave anyway if they’re insistent on obtaining her help to deal with the Cluster. She’d rather do this on her own terms.

Carefully, she twists the knob again and flings the door open before she can overthink it. She puts a little too much strength into it, perhaps, because it hits the wall with a bang and Steven makes a surprised noise from the loft.

“Peridot?”

She steps a little ways out of the bathroom and sees him looking down at her curiously.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes!” Peridot says quickly. “I merely came to the conclusion that reading out here would be—ahem—more comfortable, as you said.” She clutches the book to her chest, eyes darting around.

“Cool,” Steven replies. “Want to come up here?”

She nods hesitantly and makes her way to the stairs.

“I’m watching _Under the Knife_ , but it’s just a rerun so we can change it if you want,” he adds as she goes up to his room.

“I have no idea what you just said, but you may proceed as you wish.” Peridot looks uncertainly between the bed and the floor, not sure where she’s meant to sit. Steven pats the floor next to him and she joins him, relieved, immediately cracking open the book.

Steven continues to watch his show and Peridot reads next to him, her back pressed to the end of the bed much like it was a week ago before abducting him. It feels strange now, being here in daylight, and being invited.

After a while, she gets distracted by the television screen and looks up. She is immediately even more confused about human anatomy than she already was.

_Back to reading_ , she decides.

Their day continues in peace, and the warp pad is silent. Peridot slowly begins to let herself relax, turning pages quietly. This last book is…strange. She’s in the middle of a very long description of something called a cake when there’s a loud crashing noise overhead.

Peridot shrieks and covers her head with the book.

“Um, Dot?” Steven asks, sounding concerned.

“It’s here, it’s the Cluster, we’re all going to be shattered,” she whimpers.

“It is?”

“Didn’t you _hear it?_ ” Peridot asks incredulously.

“You mean the thunder?”

“The what?”

“Thunder.” He points out the window. “See? It’s raining.”

“Raining?” She lowers the book slightly.

Steven blinks at her. “You don’t know what rain is?”

Peridot is suddenly all too aware of her lack of information about Earth in the absence of her screen. "I—"

“Here, come with me!” Steven grabs her hand and gets up, pulling her towards the stairs and down to the front door.

There’s another loud noise and Peridot grabs his shoulders, hiding behind him.

“It’s okay, it won’t hurt you,” he says, pointing outside. “When water gets warmed up by the sun, it evaporates into clouds. And when the clouds get really heavy, it rains, like this.”

Peridot stares out at it blankly, not moving. “And rain is…water?”

“Yeah!” Steven slips away from her and opens the door. Peridot grabs onto him again before he can go anywhere. “Look,” he says, sticking just his arm outside instead and smiling at her, “it’s okay.”

She looks from his face to his arm to the rain droplets. “So what’s ‘thunder’?” she asks hesitantly.

“It’s just something that happens during a storm. Lightning too! Those are the big flashes of light.”

“And that’s _normal?_ ” she asks skeptically.

“Yep, it’s an Earth thing!” He smiles encouragingly.

Peridot slowly releases him and approaches the door, biting her lip as she extends one hand—her left, so the sticker on her right is safe. A couple small drops land on her and she immediately pulls it back, examining it carefully. He’s right, it appears quite harmless. She gradually reaches out again, letting the rest of her arm make it outside, immediately getting covered in small drops of rain.

“Isn’t it cool?” Steven says.

“…Cool,” she echoes, managing to match his smile for a moment. Then there’s another round of thunder and she jerks her arm back inside. “The rain is cool,” she corrects herself. “I'm not so sure about this 'thunder'.”

Steven reluctantly closes the door and wipes his arm off on his shirt. “It’s okay, I used to be scared of thunderstorms too! Hold on,” he adds as he pulls her back upstairs by the hand. He grabs a blanket off his bed and throws it over Peridot’s shoulders, then picks up a rectangular device with a lot of buttons and places it in her hand. "There!"

“What is the purpose of this?”

“It’s a remote,” Steven answers. “And the blanket is so you can be all cozy and warm!” He gets another for himself and settles down on the floor again.

Peridot sits next to him, trying to puzzle out how the remote works.

“If you use these buttons, you can change the channel, so you can pick what you want to watch,” he says helpfully, pointing.

“Right,” she says uncomfortably, pressing one of them. The picture on the screen changes. She has no idea what this new thing is either, but there’s suddenly quite a bit of screaming.

“Maybe not that one,” Steven says, reaching over and pressing it again. “Oh, _Crying Breakfast Friends_ is on!” He glances at Peridot. “Is that good?”

“It’s fine,” she answers quickly, glad to have already located something Steven finds acceptable. She has no idea how to find things on this device, and she wouldn’t even know what to look for. It's embarrassing for a technician of her caliber, however obsolete this technology would be on Homeworld.

Steven sets the remote aside and immediately takes her hand, just holding it between them. “So you’re not scared,” he explains.

Peridot nods, a little confused as to how that's supposed to do anything. She lets him hold it for a little while as they watch what is apparently various kinds of food running around and crying, but eventually she draws her hand back and wraps herself up snugly in the blanket. “Thank you, Steven,” she says quietly when he turns to look at her.

The thunder still makes her flinch, and the weird flashes of lightning in the dark sky aren’t particularly reassuring either, but she’s okay. It’s just what happens when it rains, like he told her. It’s just what happens on Earth.

Peridot sends one last glance towards the warp pad, one towards the window, and then lets the glow of the television be her only focus. Screens are familiar, even if it’s just a primitive one, and it makes her feel a little less lost.

After two “episodes” have finished and the rain has started to be background noise instead of something intrusive, Steven’s head falls lightly against her shoulder. She looks at him in surprise, unsure what he’s doing. But, as it turns out, he’s not really doing anything, he’s just spontaneously decided to fall asleep. That’s…odd.

Peridot sits there awkwardly for several minutes, trying not to move. Finally, she sighs and makes herself relax again. She pulls the blanket tighter around her shoulders and looks back outside at the rain. She wonders what Steven sees in it, what he sees in sleep, and what he sees in Earth.

Peridot slowly lets her eyes slip shut. Maybe she should try it, just once. Steven tried to explain it to her before, and she’d dismissed it. But…if the rain was alright, maybe this is too. She’s willing to try.

She lets the white noise of the rain, obscured by the sounds of the television, lull her into something calm and still. She’s not sure what sleep is meant to feel like, but she figures this is close enough. Quiet. Steven’s weight against her shoulder. She’s half-conscious, just existing, not thinking, not planning ten steps ahead, not wondering how long it’ll be before everything goes wrong. It’s nice.

It’s safe.

* * *

Peridot’s pulled back to wakefulness some time later, quiet voices slowly filtering into her mind.

“Shouldn’t we wake them up, Garnet?”

“It's fine. Let them rest.”

“Yeah, and get a camera, I want a picture of this.”

_What?_

Peridot opens her eyes and immediately finds the Amethyst staring at her, leaning against the television with a wide grin on her face. “Gah!” she yelps, trying to throw herself backward and only succeeding in hitting her head against the end of the bed. It bounces off the mattress harmlessly.

“Pfft.” The Amethyst laughs. “How does your hair stay so pointy when you’re always running into things?”

“I am not!” Peridot hisses, glaring at her.

“Shh, you’ll wake Steven!” The Pearl’s voice comes from just behind Peridot and she turns sharply, finding the taller gem standing over her with her spear in hand.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear!” Peridot says quickly, trying to get as far away from the weapon as possible without dislodging Steven. “I wasn’t trying to escape—”

“We know.” The fusion, who was apparently lounging on the bed above her, touches the Pearl’s arm and her grip on the spear loosens slightly, posture relaxing. “Thank you, Peridot.”

She blinks up at the fusion in surprise, not sure what to say. “Uh…right.” One of them was a Sapphire, wasn’t she? Peridot had forgotten about the future vision. She clears her throat. “Are you here to discuss the Cluster?”

“Later,” the fusion says, gesturing to Steven, who is still sleeping undisturbed by the conversation around him.

Peridot nods uncertainly. Surely the small half-gem’s sleep cycle could be interrupted for something this important, couldn’t it? But she sees the small smile on the fusion’s face, and the Pearl’s protective hovering, and the Amethyst piling up soft toys on the other side of Steven, and for the first time—in this tiny, mundane moment—Peridot can see them as more than just rebels. She's almost able to see what Steven meant by “family.”

Being surrounded by three fairly powerful gems is still not comforting, but she doesn’t feel threatened either. They’re just looking after Steven and protecting their home, and Peridot is beginning to understand that. She doesn’t understand why, and she doesn’t understand what is so special about this place that it could lead these outcasts to want to sacrifice everything—their home planet, their loyalty, their whole existence. But she understands that there is _something_ here, whether that’s Steven or Earth or some combination of things that have led them to this point.

And Peridot thinks that maybe, amidst rain and a million other things she never knew she’d experience, she'd like to understand.


End file.
